MOSCOW, July 6, 2009
Obama In Russia For Summit
Early Annoucement Expected of Arms Control Progress
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Play CBS Video Video Obama Ready For Trip President Obama is leaving on a weeklong foreign trip that starts in Moscow, goes to Italy, and winds up in West Africa. The first stop will 'reset' relations with Russia. Chip Reid reports.
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President Barack Obama with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, pictured meeting during the G-20 conference in London last April. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)
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Presidents Obama and Dmitry Medvedev were ending the seven-year hiatus in U.S.-Russian summitry, with each declaring his determination to further cut nuclear arsenals and repair a badly damaged relationship.
Both sides appear to want to use progress on arms control as a pathway to possible agreement on trickier issues, including Iran and Georgia, the tiny former Soviet republic. Those difficulties and others have soured a promising linkage in the first years after the Cold War and pushed ties between Moscow and Washington to depths unseen in more than two decades.
Mr. Obama, first lady Michelle Obama and their daughters, Malia and Sasha, arrived in Moscow in earl afternoon, local time.
In advance of Mr. Obama's departure, a White House official told reporters the presidents expect to announce progress on negotiations that could lead to a treaty to replace the START I agreement, which expires Dec. 5.
More broadly, the U.S. wants to use the summit to overhaul the U.S.-Russian relationship.
"It's not, in our view, a zero-sum game, that if it's two points for Russia it's negative two for us, but there are ways that we can cooperate to advance our interests and, at the same time, do things with the Russians that are good for them as well," Mr. Obama's top assistant on Russia, Michael McFaul, said in a presummit briefing.
Medvedev said in an Internet address that the two powers "need new, common, mutually beneficial projects in business, science and culture. He added, "I hope that this sincere desire to open a new chapter in Russian-American cooperation will be brought into fruition."
Two things appear certain:
Those deals could be announced at an Obama-Medvedev news conference Monday afternoon after the leaders' scheduled four-hour meeting.
There's been an apparent hardening on both sides over a proposed U.S. missile defense shield in Eastern Europe. Those differences could stall or even preclude an agreement of strategic nuclear warheads. That could kill the hoped-for extension of those talks next year to include cuts in delivery vehicles: long-range missiles, submarines and bombers.
On Friday, Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for Vladimir Putin, the current prime minister and former president, said the Kremlin would not negotiate a replacement to START I unless Mr. Obama clarified plans for the defense system to be based in Poland and the Czech Republic.
The U.S. contends it's designed to protect U.S. allies in Europe from a potential nuclear attack by Iran. The Russians see it as a way of weakening their offensive nuclear strike potential that is are arrayed against the U.S. arsenal. Mr. Obama has been cool to the program, which former President George W. Bush pushed hard.
"The whole issue of missile defense from my perspective is focused on defense of Europe," said Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. "Obviously, the Russians see it differently. So I think we're going to have to work our way through that."
The White House said Sunday that if an agreement comes too late for Senate ratification by Dec. 5, it would look for ways to enforce some aspects on an executive level while waiting for ratification.
Mr. Obama's schedule include an hourlong meeting with Putin on Tuesday. Protocol does not demand he visit the prime minister.
"Prime Minister Putin still has a lot of sway in Russia, and I think that it's important that even as we move forward with President Medvedev, that Putin understands that the old Cold War approaches to U.S.-Russian relations is outdated, that it's time to move forward in a different direction," Mr. Obama said in an interview Thursday with The Associated Press.
Most analysts see Putin as still holding the real reins of power in Russia. Mr. Obama said in the interview, "I think Putin has one foot in the old ways of doing business and one foot in the new."
Putin responded quickly. "We don't know how to stand so awkwardly with our legs apart," he said in televised remarks. "We stand solidly on our own two feet and always look into the future."
Asked if Mr. Obama's comment could be taken as an insult that could make negotiations even more difficult, a White House official said no, that it puts a little pressure on Putin to show he's a "modern guy," reports CBS News chief White House correspondent Chip Reid.
One of the most difficult issues expected in the Putin meeting is his fierce anger at neighboring Georgia. Last August, he sent soldiers, tanks and warplanes to crush the Georgian military after Georgia's leader sought to retake a breakaway region that wants to reunite with Russia.
Putin appears dead set on re-establishing Russia's power and sphere of influence in the former Soviet republics. At the same time, NATO has expanded eastward to include some of those countries. The alliance also is working with Georgia and Ukraine, another former republic, on possible membership in NATO.
In an interesting scheduling twist, Mr. Obama also is to see former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, who negotiated an end of the Cold War with former President Ronald Reagan. There's also to be a second Medvedev meeting after Mr. Obama speaks to new graduates of the New Economic School. It remains unclear if the Russian leaders, who control all television outlets, will allow national broadcast of the speech.
The White House bills the address as the third of four this year on his vision of a new world order. The first was during his visit to the Czech Republic when he laid out a security agenda and concern about nuclear proliferation. After that, he went to Egypt to reach over the heads of leaders of Muslim countries as he sought to improve the U.S. image with the people of the Islamic world.
The last of the foreign policy addresses was planned for Ghana, the final stop on this Obama trip.
Before leaving Washington on Sunday, Mr. Obama spoke by telephone with Turkish President Abdullah Gul, who thanked Mr. Obama for his Cairo speech on U.S.-Muslim relations.
The president does face a major challenge in convincing the Russian people that he genuinely wants to use his office for the betterment of the world even as he seeks to promote a U.S. agenda. He is not well-known to the Russians and most polls show a distrust of the American leader. He certainly enjoys none of the vast popularity lavished on him in Europe and many other places.
© MMIX, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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- "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall see God."
That's Jesus himself said.
I am thankful that Obama as taking this risk - traveling to Moscow - to try to work out a series of agreements with Russia - whom way too many Americans regard as our eternal enemy. I do NOT operate under the illusion that all of our problems with Russia will be solved, but I am hopeful that this is a new beginning.
I might point out that Dmitry Medvedev has the same political problem that Obama faces. A number of Russians are embittered over the "loss" of the Cold War. They feel betrayed and sold out by Gobrchev. Contrary to the illusions of many of the people one this website, Russia is not communistic. It's a sort of liberatarian paradise - a place that Ron Paul would love. This from of gangster capitalism has made a few oligarchs obscenely wealthy, but it has brought widespread poverty and misery to most Russians, so as a result a lot of Russians are looking back at the good old days when they could bully the rest of the world.
The same applies to a lot of people in this country - and the enries I've read prove that I am right. The bottom line is simple. We cannot go back to the past. We must move forward. I hope agreements can be worked out - or at least begun. I particularly am hopeful that something can be done about Russia's cowboy attitude toward the environment because that's where the real threat lies. Billions of tons of greenhouse gases are trapped in Siberian permafrost. We do not want these released into the atmosphere. - Reply to this comment
- I had a great time with this article as I read the topic extensively. Thank you for sharing your thoughts.
<a href="http://www.goldcoinsgain.com"> Gold </a> - Reply to this comment
- taebox-wow, got your juices going!. Good for me. See, you libs cannot take any criticism of your messiah. And yes, sweetie, he is the messiah to you lemings. Why, I do believe the one of the editors of Newsweek referred to him as GODLIKE and TRANSCENDING all. Yep, he surely did say that. And just look at the way your media covers him. At least some, even helen thomas AND a reporter from cbs (who is probably out of work now)took the messiah's mouthpiece, gibbs, to task about all the staging. Was that covered here, nope.
As for the biden/economy story and posting not allowed, that is a tactic that is reserved for this site and other msm sites.
As for FOX, you can log onto FOXnation and post your heart out on any and all stories. They have an Opinion section on the home page with stories.
But hey, call me hateful but honey, nothing can compare with the vitriol and bile spewed by the left.
Have a GREAT DAY!! - Reply to this comment
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- "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall see God."
That's Jesus himself said.
I am thankful that Obama as taking this risk - traveling to Moscow - to try to work out a series of agreements with Russia - whom way too many Americans regard as our eternal enemy. I do NOT operate under the illusion that all of our problems with Russia will be solved, but I am hopeful that this is a new beginning.
I might point out that Dmitry Medvedev has the same political problem that Obama faces. A number of Russians are embittered over the "loss" of the Cold War. They feel betrayed and sold out by Gobrchev. Contrary to the illusions of many of the people one this website, Russia is not communistic. It's a sort of liberatarian paradise - a place that Ron Paul would love. This from of gangster capitalism has made a few oligarchs obscenely wealthy, but it has brought widespread poverty and misery to most Russians, so as a result a lot of Russians are looking back at the good old days when they could bully the rest of the world.
The same applies to a lot of people in this country - and the enries I've read prove that I am right. The bottom line is simple. We cannot go back to the past. We must move forward. I hope agreements can be worked out - or at least begun. I particularly am hopeful that something can be done about Russia's cowboy attitude toward the environment because that's where the real threat lies. Billions of tons of greenhouse gases are trapped in Siberian permafrost. We do not want these released into the atmosphere.
- "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall see God."
- I saw on another site that the proud michelle and the kiddies are with him. Guess there's going to be some serious shopping going on. That's nice.
According to our Russian daughter-in-law Moscow has some great shopping but a bit pricey. No problem for the messiah's girls.
I am so proud I could just burst. - Reply to this comment
- The missile shield is a very strange enigma in US-Russia politics, because the system itself is more unreliable than the missiles they are indended to destroy. If one is deployed and if one hostile missile is launched, and if one anti-missile intercepts it, the result has no guarantees that the missile debris from a successful intercept really destroys the warhead. When Patriot missiles were deployed in Israel to defend against SCUD attacks from Iraq in the Gulf War, they had psychological benefit, but post war analysis labeled the Patriot system as ineffective.
Problem solving and resolution skills will do far more than missile shield. When you develope an experimental defense system that you use to solve a conflict, you have great expense to both the domestic economy and global economy alliance, and you still have the problem to solve, and on top of that, a bill to pay for the loan we used to borrow for the missile shield. Many citizens of this nation fail to recall that we are paying today for weapons we bought 25-35 years ago that are already retired were scrapped pennies on the dollar. - Reply to this comment
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- I really appreciate your insight. I clearly remember an attempt several years ago to use this missile system to shoot down a decrepit satellite which was drifting back into the atmosphere. The military did succeed in had to delay the shoot several days because of inclement weather.
Has any one been to Prague or Krakow lately? I have and the weather was horrible- dank, cold, and rainy - and I'm talking about summer. Can we trust a missile system that only works in the sunshine? The missile shield is a fraud. Obama's decision to switch to a portable missile system is a step toward greater security.
- I really appreciate your insight. I clearly remember an attempt several years ago to use this missile system to shoot down a decrepit satellite which was drifting back into the atmosphere. The military did succeed in had to delay the shoot several days because of inclement weather.
- Ooh! Are we sitting down with the Russians again? Outright Russian lies and deceit will be so much more entertaining than in the old days; we'll be able to watch 'em slip the Iranians more nuclear technology via web-cam! Instant messaging Deja vous is change I can believe in!
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- Actually, has it occurred to you that perhaps the Russians are recognizing that an armed and dangerous Iran is not to their best interests? Remember what the Russians did to the Chechens, who are Islamic. Remember that the Russians have also suffered a number of terrorist attacks because of this war. Remember that the Chechens could easily appeal to their fellow Muslims in Iran to come to their aid.
Also bear in mind that Azerbaijan might have more in common in with Iran than it has with Russia. The same applies to many of the former soviet republics in Central Asia. I would hope that this shared threat might be something that both Obama and Medvedev could continue to examine.
- Actually, has it occurred to you that perhaps the Russians are recognizing that an armed and dangerous Iran is not to their best interests? Remember what the Russians did to the Chechens, who are Islamic. Remember that the Russians have also suffered a number of terrorist attacks because of this war. Remember that the Chechens could easily appeal to their fellow Muslims in Iran to come to their aid.
- CBS allows the public to comment on this fluff story. (If you really think that the U.S. and Russia haven't been sleeping together since the demise of Communism, you need to get out more.)
However, CBS does **NOT** allow the public to comment on the much more significant story "Biden: We Misread How Bad the Economy Was". WOW. (Hey, people, if you have any doubts now that one group drives both the Democrats and the Republicans, you need to get out more.)
...and CBS doesn't even mention this story from Fox News: "Biden gives Israel apparent green light for military action to eliminate Iran's nuclear threat". WOW. Biden is the U.S. Commander in Chief?!# Where's Obama? Oh, there he is--maintaining his "Blessed are the peacemakers" image in Russia. - Reply to this comment
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- Big Eye is losing its credibility as a serious news site.
It's becoming nothing but tabloid.
And they dont' want ANY criticism of their messiah.
- Aren't we supposed to stay out of other country's business now?? Geesh, wish they would get the talking points straight. But hey, no matter, none of the important stuff is covered in the msm.
But I sure was happy to see the Father's Day story on the messiah and his kiddies eating custard cones. Or, how about, "What does obama think of Jackson's death".
Now that's news.
- Big Eye is losing its credibility as a serious news site.
- Wow, Russia is always arming and supporting our enemies, Russians hate us and want to destroy our economy, and Obama clinton Admin. want to be friend and Reset button ??????good moved
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- lollll...funny, reading all of the belligerent rightie comments...when you can just about guarantee - sight unseen - that they have never been within a mile of a military recruitment office.
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- Obama is a total failure.
The USA will collapse under its own weight like the USSR did.
Obama wants to buddy up to Russia to get ideas about what it will be like. - Reply to this comment
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- If it happens it will be because of 30+ years of trickle down Reaganomics transferring the nations wealth from the middle class to the rich
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So what's your solution - more FREE TRADE? More GLOBALIZATION?
ROTFLMAO! Nope, no ideas out of you.
- Actually the old USSR and Reagan/Bush economics had more in common than you think. Both involved a monopoly of wealth and power in the hands of the few. Both revolved around a bunch of lies and myths, something you see on FOX news. The USSR fell because of the weight of its own lies. And of course Afghanistan helped too. A similar fate awaits the USA if we follow all the lies of Sarah Palin, the Tea Baggers & Company.
- If it happens it will be because of 30+ years of trickle down Reaganomics transferring the nations wealth from the middle class to the rich
Ex-NBA ref Tim Donaghy 
